People who booed US Vice President J.D. Vance at the Winter Olympics showed "European pride" after a series of critical remarks about Europe by American officials, EU diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday, UNN reports with reference to Politico.
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Last week at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Vance and his wife Usha Vance were met with boos and jeers when they briefly appeared on the big screen, waving American flags during the opening ceremony.
When asked about the booing on Euronews Europe Today, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: "Well, I think we've heard a lot of not very pleasant words from the United States about Europe."
"Of course, our public also has pride, European pride. So that's visible," she added.
According to the publication, these remarks reflect the strained state of relations between the EU and the US ahead of the Munich Security Conference, where European leaders are to meet with members of US President Donald Trump's administration.
At last year's MSC conference, Vance shocked many Europeans with critical comments about the EU, accusing it of suppressing free speech and threatening to destroy civilization through migration.
Vance and other Trump administration officials continued to publish derogatory comments, with the vice president recently accusing Europeans of double standards in relations with US representatives, the publication writes.
"Europeans are very friendly in private and willing to make a lot of concessions, and then publicly attack us and say, 'We won't work with Americans. We won't do anything with Americans,'" Vance said in an interview published Saturday. "Sorry, but that's all nonsense."
These comments followed Trump's threat to seize Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory in the Arctic.
Despite an invitation, Vance does not plan to attend this year's MSC conference, Bloomberg and Fox News report.
Instead, the US delegation to the conference will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, MSC chairman Wolfgang Ischinger told reporters in Berlin on Monday.
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